Elfyn Evans clinches 2026 WRC championship

25 years since the last, there's another British WRC champ - bring on the GR Yaris special

By Matt Bird / Monday, 5 October 2026 / Loading comments

What a couple of weeks it’s been for world rallying. No sooner has it been confirmed that the BBC will show live rallying from next year that Ford announced it would return to the top tier for the first time in more than a decade and a half. Now there’s another British world rally champion for the first time in a quarter of a century after Elfyn Evans took the title at the Rally Italia Sardegna. Not since the late Richard Burns in 2001 has there been a Brit on top of world rallying, and alongside Colin, Evans is only the third in history. It’s nice to have someone not called Sebastien win, in truth.

It’s been a long time coming for Gazoo Racing's Welshman, having been runner-up in 2020 and 2021 to Seb Ogier, in 2023 to Kalle Rovanpera, 2024 to Thierry Neuville and last year to Ogier as well. All in Yarises bar Neuville, notably. And running some of the best there’s been so close is no mean feat in itself; it’ll surely make finally getting the job done all the sweeter.

It happened in dramatic fashion, too, even for a WRC finale. The title was all set to be Oli Solberg’s, as he was on course to take a 35-point haul from Sardinia and reel in his teammate - who started the weekend with a 21-point advantage - on the last stage. But the Swede, alongside co-driver Elliott Edmondson, crashed with just two turns and a hundred metres to go, costing him precious time. It meant Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin could be crowned champions by five points on 243, having led for most of the season despite just two wins. More crucially for a championship challenge, they were consistent, only finishing outside the top six twice (Croatia and Kenya) in a 13-round season.

"It hasn't sunk in," said a shocked Evans to the BBC. "I was sure it was over. I feel for Oliver - he had an incredible weekend. I don't know what to say." Hopefully it’s exactly the kind of drama that more sports fans will get to enjoy on BBC next year, when there’s a new era of WRC27 cars as well. But before all that, we need the special edition GR Yaris; Rovanpera got one, Ogier got two, so it would only be fair. If a Kalle can be worth £70k and an Ogier £60k, imagine what a GR Yaris Evans could command…